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The i-AM Tablet is an evolving gadget in a world of fast-paced technological change. Facing a new partnership with a major customer, the market for the i-AM is about to explode! This case explores the innovative concept of Supply Chain Resilience as the CEO of i-AM, Inc, develops a strategic plan for expansion. This case is based on theory and practices evolved at the Dow Chemical Company.

The case describes the structure of Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) created and launched in Indian markets in 2017. Besides introducing InvITs and their potential role in relaxing the financing constraint created by the lack of an active corporate debt market in India, the case can help in analysing why the market is discounting the IndiGrid unit price relative to its issue price. It also offers an opportunity to value IndiGrid's Patran acquisition.

In March 2015, Amgen is preparing for the launch of Repatha, a new molecule that has demonstrated a remarkable ability to treat high cholesterol. Through a series of clinical trials, Amgen has proven that the molecule is both safe and effective for patients with high cholesterol. It also is effective for patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, a difficult-to-treat population that has exceptionally high levels of cholesterol. Amgen expects the FDA to approve the molecule before the end of the year. Now, the Repatha team has to develop a revenue forecast.

Students will be able to: describe the entrepreneurial traits required for successful business venturing; evaluate the entrepreneurial risks associated with a rapid business expansion in the early start-up phase of an entrepreneurial venture, especially in crisis; select and defend appropriate management systems that will contribute to the sustainability of a business post the crisis and rapid expansion; and evaluate the online social media optimisation strategies.

In July 2019, Lekau Sehoana launched branded sneakers called Drip. It took Lekau six weeks to sell the first 600 pairs of shoes from his car boot, not having applied any robust marketing strategies. During the interactions with customers, it became clear that there was a demand for a new South African sneakers brand. In December of the same year, he manufactured and within a few days, sold 1,200 sneakers. This rapid achievement was enough confirmation for Lekau that there was a need for locally manufactured and branded shoes. Based on this success, Lekau started to consider the launch of his own business. However, during the process of the formal launch, the world was suddenly experiencing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the planning stage regarding the mode of operation and the full business launch, in March 2020, South Africa was placed into the Covid-19 Alert Level 5 lockdown, complicating the decision-making process even further. Despite the extremely severe lockdown regulations that lasted more than a year, in May 2021, Lekau had already managed to open 11 stores in reputable malls and sold hundred thousands of his sneakers. This instant success, putting pressure on the manufacturing ability, distribution and costing structure, led to Lekau becoming concerned about having grown and still growing too fast too soon during a pandemic. His concern was what would happen when the country would move back to normal, without the constraints caused by the lockdown, would he be able to sustain the growth and how would he achieve this, and how would he be able to manage the fast-growing venture?

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, General Management and Marketing courses at the Postgraduate Diploma and Masters level.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 3: Entrepreneurship.

A privately held U.S. plumbing parts manufacturer is negotiating the purchase of a Brazilian plumbing manufacturer specializing in water conservation. The case provides sufficient information to value this cross-border acquisition and includes a brief summary of valuation techniques in this context. A particularly rich discussion arises from two points: A forecast of exchange rates from a forecasting company differs from forecasts based on inflation, and two methods are suggested for dealing with country risk (sovereign spread and scenario analysis). A teaching note and instructor and student spreadsheets are available to accompany this case.

The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to understand the meaning of celebrity endorser, to understand factors that play a significant role in selecting a celebrity endorser for product endorsement, to decide when a brand needs a celebrity endorser and to generate option analysis factoring in the pros and limitations of celebrity endorsement.

Dish TV pioneered digital entertainment in India. It was July 2016, the first quarter board meeting of Dish TV India Limited at the company corporate office in Noida, India. One of the agenda items was whether the company needed to rely on celebrity endorsement 12 years after its inception. In three months, time, at its next meeting, the board was expected to come up with a product campaign that would most effectively impact its target customers.

The case is targeted at business management students pursuing a postgraduate management program.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The case is based on a real $25 million project at a major U.S.-based computer manufacturer. For confidentiality reasons the company has been disguised as A&D High Tech. The Web-based online ordering system project is required by sales and marketing for the fall holiday season. If the project misses this window, the firm will lose substantial market share to competitors. The A&D High Tech case examines how to create and analyze a project plan in Microsoft Project. Specifically, data is given to build the project plan step-by-step and then analyze the plan using the Microsoft project management tool. In order to make the case manageable for students we reduced the size of the project, and corresponding number of resources, to approximately $1 million, but retained all of the features of the original project. The project plan that students construct from the data given in the case is fraught with risks, and students must apply risk management techniques to diagnose the plan. Ultimately, students must answer the management question: Will the project be completed for the holiday shopping season? This case is the first in a series; the second is the case entitled “A&D High Tech (B): Managing Scope Change.” The case can also be taught using other project management software tools, such as Primavera.

The case teaches students how to build a project plan in Microsoft Project (or other project management software tools). More important, the case teaches prospective executives how to analyze a project plan and identify risks of the plan, and define strategies to mitigate these risks. Students learn that in the planning stage of any project the risks are highest, but this is the best opportunity for proactive management intervention.

Resource-based view (RBV) theory (Barney, 1991; Barney and Mackey, 2016; Nagano, 2020) states that a firm’s tangible and intangible resources can represent a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA), a long-term competitive advantage that is extremely difficult to duplicate by another firm, when it meets four criteria (i.e. not imitable, are rare, valuable and not substitutable). In the context of this case, we believe there are three sources of SCA to be discussed using RBV – the major league soccer (MLS) team player roster, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to exploit this roster and the league’s single-entity structure: • MLS players: it has been widely acknowledged that a firm’s human resource talent, which includes professional soccer players (Omondi-Ochieng, 2019), can be a source of SCA. For example, from an RBV perspective, a player on the Los Angeles Galaxy roster: > cannot play for any other team in any other league at the same time (not imitable and are rare), > would already be a competitive player, as he is acquired to play in the highest professional league in the country (valuable) and > it would be almost impossible to find a clone player matching his exact talent characteristic (not substitutable) anywhere else. Of course, the roster mix of players must be managed by a capable coach who is able to exploit these resources and win championships (Szymanski et al., 2019). Therefore, it is the strategic human resource or talent management strategies of the professional soccer team roster that will enable a team to have the potential for an SCA (Maqueira et al., 2019). • Technology: technology can also be considered a source of SCA. However, this has been a source of contention. The argument is that technology is accessible to any firm that can afford to purchase it. Logically, any MLS team (or for that matter any professional soccer team) can acquire or build an AI system. For many observers, the only obvious constraint is financial resources. As we discuss in other parts of the case study, there is a fan-based assumption that what transpired in major league baseball (MLB) may repeat in the MLS. The movie Moneyball promoted the use of sabermetrics in baseball when making talent selection (as opposed to relying exclusively on scouts), which has now evolved into the norm of using technology-centered sports analytics across all MLB teams. In short, where is the advantage when every team uses technology for talent management? However, if that is the case, why are the MLB teams continuing to use AI and now the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League are following suit? We believe RBV theorists have already provided early insights: > “the exploitation of physical technology in a firm often involves the use of socially complex firm resources. Several firms may all possess the same physical technology, but only one of these firms may possess the social relations, cultural traditions, etc., to fully exploit this technology to implementing strategies…. and obtain a sustained competitive advantage from exploiting their physical technology more completely than other firms” (Barney, 1991, p. 110). • MLS League Single-Entity Structure: In contrast to other professional soccer leagues, the MLS has one distinct in-built edge – its ownership structure as a single entity, that is as one legal organization. All of the MLS teams are owned by the MLS, but with franchise operators. The centralization of operations provides the MLS with formidable economies of scale such as when investing in AI technologies for teams. Additionally, this ownership structure accords it leverage in negotiations for its inputs such as for player contracts. The MLS is the single employer of all its players, fully paying all salaries except those of the three marquees “designated players.” Collectively, this edge offers the MLS unparalleled fluidity and speed as a league when implementing changes, securing stakeholder buy-ins and adjusting for tailwinds. The “socially complex firm resources” is the unique talent composition of the professional soccer team and most critically its single entity structure. While every team can theoretically purchase an AI technology talent management system, its application entails use across 30 teams with a very different, complex and unique set of player talents. The MLS single-entity structure though is the resource that supplies the stability required for this human-machine (technology) symbioses to be fully accepted by stakeholders such as players and implemented with precision and speed across the entire league. So, there exists the potential for each MLS team (and the MLS as a league) to acquire SCA even when using “generic” AI technology, as long as other complex firm factors come into play.

This case relied on information that was widely reported within media, press interviews by MLS officials, announcements by various organizations, journal articles and publicly available information on MLS. All of the names and positions, in this case, are actual persons.

MLS started as a story of dreaming large and of quixotic adventure. Back in 1990, the founders of the MLS “sold” the league in exchange for the biggest prize in world soccer – the rights to host the 1994 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup before they even wrote up the business plan. Today, the MLS is the highest-level professional men’s soccer league competition in the USA. That is a major achievement in just over 25-years, as the US hosts a large professional sports market. However, MLS has been unable to attract higher broadcasting value for its matches and break into the highest tier of international professional soccer. The key reason is that MLS matches are not deemed high quality content by broadcasters. To achieve higher quality matches requires many inputs such as soccer specific stadiums, growing the fan base, attracting key investors, league integrity and strong governance, all of which MLS has successfully achieved since its inception. However, attracting high quality playing talent is a critical input the MLS does not have because the league has repeatedly cautioned that it cannot afford them yet to ensure long-term financial sustainability. In fact, to guarantee this trade-off, the MLS is one of the only professional soccer leagues with an annual salary cap. So, the question is: how does MLS increase the quality of its matches (content) using relatively low cost (low quality) talent and still be able to demand higher broadcast revenues? One strategy is for the MLS to use AI playing technology to extract higher quality playing performance from its existing talent like other sports leagues have demonstrated, such as the NFL and NBA. To implement such a radical technology-centric strategy with its players requires the MLS to navigate associated issues such as human-machine symbioses, risking fan acceptance and even altering brand valuation.

The case is written and designed for a graduate-level (MBA) class or an upper-level undergraduate class in areas such as contemporary issues in management, human resource management, talent management, strategic management, sports management and sports marketing. The case is suitable for courses that discuss strategy, talent management, human resource management and brand strategy.

The case examines one of the most significant infrastructure projects in southeastern Europe during a time when the legal and financial environment for project financing was in its infancy (early to mid-1990s). Athens needed a ring road to support its bid to host the 2004 Olympic Games. The road was technically—as well as logistically—complex, involving 33 municipalities and construction that involved a major metropolitan area (Athens) populated by more than 3.5 million inhabitants. The case examines the economics of the project, how private-public partnerships (PPPs) are structured, and the broader field of infrastructure finance.

Infrastructure finance.

II MBA/Executive MBA (Project Finance, Infrastructure Finance).

It is generally believed that the economy of India is on the threshold of achieving significant growth in the coming years. The availability of adequate infrastructure facility will play a key role in realizing this growth potential. To accelerate the process of creating infrastructure capacity, the Government of India has opened up many infrastructure sectors for private sector investment. Creation of international standard airport facilities is an important component of such new infrastructure creation. This case study presents the initial development and financing closure of Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the first major private sector airport in India. In retrospect, it is generally felt that BIAL was an important milestone in the privatization of airports in India. The blueprint for the greenfield PPP airport in Hyderabad was closely modelled on the BIAL project. The experience gained in the development of BIAL also played a major role in subsequent brownfield PPP airport expansion projects in Mumbai and Delhi.

The goal of this case study is to illustrate the complexities that exist in the process of infrastructure development and financing. This following are the expected learning outcomes:

• The importance of using an appropriate project structure.

• The prevalence of early returns to project sponsors as compared to lenders.

• The process of achieving financial closure.

• Analyzing project risks and returns.

The importance of using an appropriate project structure.

The prevalence of early returns to project sponsors as compared to lenders.

The process of achieving financial closure.

Analyzing project risks and returns.

Teaching notes.